Testimonials

Fourteen of my treasures, carefully chosen, spent July in a beautiful display case at Mile 68 on I91 in Hartford, VT. Their reentry to the rest of the doll family, sitting here patiently waiting with mascot Flagler to meet and greet the visitors makes us curious. So let¹s hear their testimonies. Well, said Suzy, ³Everyone loves me best!² Missy responds: ³I am the all time favorite!² ³So many people oohed and aahed about us,² bragged Holly. Zoe reported that Crackers peed on the glass shelf. Maybe we should listen to some real people. During our grandson Gurion¹s weeklong visit working on the letterpress, we had many conversations about Bundle history. He is the inventor of Calico Paper Dolls. Bring back the animals he said, so we made a little gingham dog, now named Dillon, who made the young man joyful. So we also agreed to offer Sam with fireworks eyes as Calico Paper Dolls to raise money through August for the Chester Fireworks fund. Four generations of doll owners love to tell me their stories of loving their dolls. Robin loves to share her dolls like Olga to teach foreign language to her students. Sasha has several Bundles and sleeps with one each night on a rotation cycle. Anna and her sister like to take their dolls to the beach for a picnic. Christine¹s Scarlett managed three cardinal eggs in a nest while the parents were away. And Caroline has slept with her Mimi for five years and her doll was just in our beauty salon for her third wig‹this time a sweet ponytail. And I spent three or four days restoring three dolls, ages 37, 35 and 33, all belonging to Holly and now being loved by her two daughters. Nothing pleases me more than to bring their dolls back to life, especially when they have been loved so abundantly. Even Lew still has his Teddy, missing his eyes but not his heart, now forty-seven years old. In spite of our presence in two VT welcome centers, our beautiful gardens and restored yard sign, we are seeing a huge dip in our visitorship. We know it is not the invasive burning bushes, the weather, the speed of the traffic, or where to park, but the terrible economy. My hero on NPR, Paul Solomon, talked about like problems on Cape Cod. We are waiting it out. We know we offer quality, value and support our prices, honored by a lifetime guarantee, a 10 percent returning customer benefit and a loving cloth friend for life. And we are patient.